Honestly- do you ever worry about using this stuff?

ALright, let me say first of all that I love getting high more than I love anything like getting drunk or any type of inebriation. I think weed is great, and aside from me being a little too lazy sometimes and the fact that it costs money, I don't really see much bad effects from it.

I smoked all the time this past year in college, and have been home since May 14th, and have only gotten high once since then. There have been no problems with going without it at all, I've been doing just fine.

I think overall I believe that it is really a mental thing, and if you have a strong will you can control how it effects you. Like I think if I needed to, I could stop altogether, as I have not had any problems taking a break this summer, although I'd love to get high right now anyway, hehehe.

But sometimes, I will admit I worry about the long term effects. I am certainly not a blind follower to what the government and other nonsense says about cannabis, but the fact that they say there is so much correlation between weed and psychotic effects, making you stupid, leading to dependency, and just other random negative effects on the brain does leave me a little worried.

What about you guys? Does it ever worry you at all, that someday you may overdo it and regret it?

I have read about a fair share of people who have used it most of their lives and do just fine with it. But I want to know more of the facts about this- if anyone could show me some links, or tell me some examples of how the long term effects are mild at best and not really anything to be too worried with, I'd really appreciate it. Just anything really to re-affirm to me that the war against weed is pretty ridiculous, and examples of people who use it and are able to only have positive effects much later on in their life, would be great.

Thanks in advance and I'm really glad I found this forum! Take it easy.

 

Since marijuana has been used safely for many thousands of years....
Since humans have cannibanoid receptors in their brains....
Since marijuana has countless medicinal benefits,
My answer is no.

 

sometimes i feel i should stop because it's making me stupid and lazy, so i do.


i havent smoked for about a month, and the way i feel right now, if i never got my hands on weed ever again in my entire life, i would be fine with it

 

if you're looking for a one sided argument then you're not really looking for the truth are you?

the fact is that cannabis can have detrimental/negative effects on some users. yes it has many many positive qualities but there are bad ones too. smoking responsibly is about being aware of this and not turning a blind eye to what can happen when things go wrong. if you don't then you only fuel the arguments of the anti-cannabis campaigners.

i also think that the war against weed is ridiculous, but not because cannabis is harmless but because i believe that prohibition of a plant is a civil liberties issue.

i believe in using drugs not taking them.

but don't get me wrong, i like getting off my face as much as anyone else, but i've seen a lot of friends fuck up from drugs, and cannabis has been a part of that. i've also lost good friends because they smoked too much when they shouldn't have done and now they have severe mental problems such as schizophrenia.

its not nice and it annoys me when smokers make themselves oblivious to the negative effects of weed because they don't want to believe there is a downside.

 

yes believe it or not there is a downside to using cannabis, it does effect short term memory and can lead to upper respiratory problems in the future (if you smoke it)...however when used in moderation say once every 3 or 4 weeks, there isnt really a problem...people just have to realize that theres a time and a place for everything, and daily use of cannabis or any drug for that matter does not usually have any positive effects whatsoever

although im not worryed because i only use cannabis once every 3 or 4 weeks and i havent noticed any negative effects 24 hours after use

 

I probably should have rephrased myself a little bit on this- I don't want to just pretend that anything bad cannot happen. I know that it can, because there are obvious cases where people let it take over for them.

But I can find and hear that information anywhere, from both biased and non-biased sources. What I probably should have said is that I'm interested to hear more arguments, facts, stories and examples of it positive effects and it not being as bad as some people say. I want the truth, for sure, but I can already tell you plenty about one side of the story. That's more what I meant.

Well, given that, can you give me a little more info on why and how they let it ruin themselves? And how it caused their schizophrenia, because that is a big caution to me. Like what sort of things should they have done differently and what should have been done to prevent these things.

 

Do you really think that's where the limit lies? Maybe it depends on the person. My friend's dad has been a successful business man his entire career, and he tol me that his dad smoked pot every day up until about a year or two ago. That seemed to work fine for him.

I just think once every 3 or 4 weeks may not be the right limit.... I could be wrong.

 

I think in the cases where people develope disorders after smoking pot, the pot didn't cause the disorder, it merely brought it out. Some people have disorders like that that can be completely unseen until something brings it out. The only worries I have are just for my lungs, but given a break even those can start to repair themselves, or so they are starting to say. Pot is something that can be very different from one person to another. Some people smoke every day and lead successful lives, others smoke once or twice and have horrible highs and hate it. Some people get addicted, some can quit and never look back. Its really all a matter of finding what is comfortable for you. If you've allready smoked a bit and haven't had any bad psychological effects I'd say your fine. Plus, a big factor in how high you get is often how high you expect to get. Your opinions, expectations, and basic thoughts on smoking can effect how you react to it.

 

oh fuck the whole 'brought it out' bullshit, like 80% of ppl who have schizophrenia have no recorded family history, so you could potentially have susceptability and have no way of knowing.

anyway, after looking at the schizophrenic cases in many studies, they involve normal people who spent more time stoned than sober for a few years as a teenager.

im still on my search for just ONE case of cancer attributed to cannabis (and not cannabis + smoking habit. in fact studies have shown cannabis reduces the chance of lung cancer in smokers). none.

Im not sure, this may be completely untrue.. but im still interested to see whether the effects of cannabis on you can give an idea of whether your susceptable or not. i mean some people lose control when theyre stoned, some dont think remotely properly, some lose ability to socialise, some become really paranoid to the point of panic attack or psychotic-like symptoms of being afraid/feeling that your being watched or judged. whereas others just have fun all the time. my oppinion is that these give an idication of its affects on the brain but it could be completely false and misleading so yeh it needs to be looked into more.

i mean i watched footage of this one guy who was stoned, and later he got schizo, and he was acting like a fuckin maniac.


hey if your interested in cannabis you might find my long and random post here interesting:

http://hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98373

i accidentally left out a discussion of all of the 'negative' possibilities of being high in people but other than that i think it covers a lot. but yeh its hard to structure 2000+ words when your high

 

"I watched this one video of a guy who ate fifteen hits of acid and danced funny at a grateful dead show"

People are fucked up, while some can dose out all their lives and be fine, some people get fucked in the head just from getting high... but please don't try to slander my dear mary jane's name... after all, she's completely harmless.

I don't sit back and worry about the long term effects of anything I do, if you stop to waste time to worry, you have less time to hit that blunt... jesus, what's wrong with you people? :sunglasse

 

Yeah, I myself read a study that said smoking as a teenager can bring out psychosis and such. Then at the bottom in small print it said that this study was only true for people who started smoking before the age of 12. It seems that a lot of these anti-weed studies have a little catch like that.

Another study I read said that light and moderate users could recover from most of weed's bad effects if they got off it for a month, but heavy users might have permanent damage. I was a bit scared of this at first, then read the small print at the bottom that said a light user smokes 1-25 joints a week, whereas a heavy user smokes 175-300 joints a week. I am definitely in the light smoker category by those standards!

Yeah, I generally handle myself really well, unless I am stoned as all fuck I don't get too paranoid, and I mostly just laugh and enjoy myself, or get really creative, or just chill out. Hopefully that is the right indication of what it will do to you.

I find that nowadays I am a lot more easygoing, I don't make things too big a deal, and I think a lot more positive, even when I'm sober, which I have been for about a month now.

Cool, I will check that link out after I post this. By the way, do you have a link to the video of that one schizo guy?

 

Ah, well okay.. I am currently concerned with what I'm doing in my life and I do believe cannabis doesn't help the problem.

Being in a bad depression, with a long history of depression, I feel cannabis can attribute to the feelings of apathy, sadness, loneliness, desperation, and anxiety.

Now, there are documented cases where heavy use of cannabis has had a negative psychological affect. I am no scientist, but from what I have experienced, it is a very real thing.

But... however, I will not quit smoking, and I will rise again.

 

So what you're saying is that because of the state of mind you're in, the weed amplifies it in a bad way, or do you think the weed caused it?

 

I think for me personally Marijuana has benefited me more than it has done harm to me. So I'm going to keep on smokin'

 

Personally, no I do not worry about myself because as others have suggested I use this recreationally, perhaps one weekend a month or such. I am a very healthy person, I eat right, take care of my body and my mind and spirit. I am aware of the effects that long term use can have regarding depression, and lung cancer and I pay close attention to my mind and body (both while high, and on a daily basis). There are times when I refrain from smoking because I know that it does make me feel lethargic and I want to be energetic, strong or sharp thinking. Other times I just want to chill and laugh at nothing.

I believe that while marijuana is in fact a very natural substance and can be consumed by many people without many severe reprecussions, I also believe that some people should not use marijuana and that every body is different. Your body might metabolize pot one way, but mine another. Everyone has different experiences with different drugs. What is good for you might not be good for me.

It seems to me that you are looking for validation for using pot. I can't give you that. If you are questioning the safety of the drug, I suggest doing some more in depth research, rather than just asking our opinions. There are many resources here on this site. Check them out. Don't delude yourself into believing that it is a harmless drug, or that there is more good that comes out of it than bad, or what have you. Don't get into comparing things like this drug to that, or someone else's experience to yours. If you feel good using it and safe, and you are responsible, not putting yourself or anyone else in harms way, then do your thing. If however you fear that by smoking marijuana adverse side effects could present themselves, don't do it.

I wish you luck in your quest for knowledge. Take care of yourself.

 

I worry if the tap water is healthy, I worry if the air pollution is safe to breathe, I worry about the preservatives in food, I worry about working in the sun, I worry about being bathed in radio frequencies, I worry about getting old, I worry about dying, and possibly about getting a spanking after that.

Nah, just kidding I don't worry about any of that stuff. Everything's bad for you, if it's not making me crazy, upset, or outright killing me, I'm not going to worry about it. I know people who've toked their entire lives, now in their late middle ages and still toking daily. I work with people like this, tokers and drug takers make up %90 percent of my circle of friends and acquaintances. Some of the oldest living people in recent history have been fiendish tobacco smokers.

Having said that however, I don't really agree with kids taking drugs while they're still developing their mind. I wouldn't condone anyone under 18 using drugs in any significant quantity. As for myself I still take 6 month breaks. If for no other reason just to see what I'm like straight all the time. I know it affects my short term memory, but my short term memory has never really been the greastest, heh. I'm a bit of a psychonaut and by now have a fairly good grasp of my own psychology, some drugs I will specifically avoid cause they cause a "disturbance in the force", lol. But not pot, if it does anything severe, I'm either naturally resonating alongside it, or I'm so dulled by and to its effects that I can't even distinguish what it is anymore. But I doubt it.

 

Being sad or other emotional states can be overcomed, but you need to be able to think straight to do it. Marijuana clouds your mind...

 

A fear of smoking pot will only increase your paranoia if you do indeed continue to smoke pot.

 

You talking about me?

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by cutelildeadbear
Don't delude yourself into believing that it is a harmless drug, or that there is more good that comes out of it than bad, or what have you.





What I get out of it and what you get out of it are completely different things. You only get what you take...